Original Wraps. 8vo. 46 pages. 23 cm. First edition. First brochure for the first Israel Bond Issuance, announcing the amount and bond types available, etc. Contains several charts and graphs discussing Israel's import/export amounts, public debt, government expenditures, military expenditures, etc. With one map of Israel. The idea to float bonds issued by Israel's government was conceived by Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, in the aftermath of Israel's War of Independence. The war had taken a terrible toll in casualties (more than 1% of the country's population was killed) , and the nation's fledgling economy was devastated. Compounding the dire situation was the fact that Israel faced economic demands unique to the new state, most especially the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants. In Israel's early years, immigrants generally fell into two categories: Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab countries, who poured in as the British Blockade ended and Middle Eastern Jews fled or were expelled from their home countries. Short on money, the country suffered food shortages and rationing, and the new arrivals had to be housed in primitive conditions. With his country financially overwhelmed, Ben-Gurion turned to the Diaspora community for help. In September 1950, he convened a meeting of American Jewish leaders at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, where he proposed issuing bonds to help provide Israel with a more secure economic foundation. Ben-Gurion's goals were two-fold: to obtain millions of dollars in funding for immigrant absorption and the construction of national infrastructure, and to engage Diaspora Jewry as active partners in building the new Jewish state. The American Jewish leaders supported Ben-Gurion's plan and, the following spring, the prime minister traveled to New York to help launch the inaugural Independence Issue at a gala Madison Square Garden ceremony
. Final results for 1951 more than doubled projections, exceeding $52 million (Wikipedia, 2015) . Subjects: Finance - Israel. Bonds, Government - Israel (State) Economic history - Israel (State) Economic history. Finance. Israel - Economic conditions. American Financial and Development Corporation for Israel. OCLC lists 5 copies (Wayne State, NYPL, US Dept of State, Penn, Harvard) , none in Israel and none west of Detroit. Soiled wraps, folded in half, institutional marks faintly visible on wraps, otherwise clean and fresh. Good condition. Important. (ZION-6-49) xx
